Monday, October 28, 2013

NEW DELHI: The CBI today moved the Supreme Court seeking its permission to include one more officer in the team of 39 officials conducting probe in coal blocks allocation scam.

The agency filed the application as the apex court had directed it that no changes to be made in the team of officers probing the multi-crore scam.

CBI in its application said that the reason for adding one more officer in the present investigating team has been disclosed in a sealed envelope which will be handed over to a bench headed justice R M Lodha when the case will be taken up for hearing tomorrow.

The sealed cover would also contain the CV of the officer proposed to be associated with the investigating team.

The three-page application said, \"Considering the reasons disclosed in the sealed cover, it would be in the interest of justice, if this court may be please to allow the present application permitting the CBI to add one more CBI officer to the present team of 39 officers.\"

The matter pertaining to coal scam is likely to be taken up tomorrow and the bench is expected to go through the latest status report filed recently by CBI in a sealed envelope.

CBI had on October 22 filed its fresh status report which is expected to inform the court about 14th FIR which was filed recently against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, his company Hindalco and former coal secretary P C Parakh.

The apex court is also expected to consider tomorrow applications filed by petitioner in the case seeking its direction that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who held additional charge of the coal ministry at that time, be asked to file an affidavit on the alleged irregularities in coal allocation during his tenure.

The petitioner in the application has said that the PM be directed to make his stand clear on the FIR filed against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former Coal Secretary P C Parakh in a coal block allocation case.

Another application is also likely to be considered by the apex court in which the petitioner has sought directions to the CBI to name the PM in its FIR filed against Birla and Parakh in a coal block allocation case.

The agency, which had on August 29 faced the ire of the apex court for tardy probe, is also supposed to inform in its status report the progress made in the rest of the cases.

The slow CBI probe into the coal scam had come under sharp criticism of the court which had said the agency was still in the \"first gear\" and needed to pick up speed.

The apex court had directed CBI to conclude the probe against all companies, which were allocated coal blocks, by December this year.